Hawks Third Quarter Offense Costs them Game 1
The Washington Wizards learned something about the Atlanta Hawks this afternoon. It is this: the Hawks first quarter offense is brilliant and a beautiful thing to watch. Their second quarter can be equally dazzling. But, just wait- bide your time, and watch how it all unfolds like a fairy tale gone dark. The Hawks double digit leads can be overcome, their three point shooting can be neutralized, their offense can be manhandled. If you don’t turn the ball over, you have a chance.
It’s fitting here to point out the much repeated saying about insanity. According to Einstein, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That applies to the Hawks. The thing they are doing over and over again is building double digit leads. But the results are always the same. They lose the lead and then have to fight for what they started. But, by then, the texture of the game has changed, and the series as well.
The Wizards know what the Nets knew. The Hawks are no one to fear. They don’t have the ability to shut the door on teams, to squeeze out their heart.
In 5 out of 7 playoff games, the Hawks have had double digit leads. But the double digit leads have disappeared in the blink of an eye. The answers are both basic and complicated. The Hawks stopped making shots.
The Hawks had a sequence in the 4th quarter in which they had 4 chances in one possession. Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague, Paul Millsap, Al Horford all had an opportunity but not one of them could connect on layups or perimeter shots. It was the metaphor for what happened in the second half of this game or it was its cruel irony. Effort alone is worth about a nickel. If you can’t finish, you can’t win. And one more thing the Hawks need to be reminded of: the Wizards are not the Brooklyn Nets.
May 3, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Kyle Korver (26) shoots a lay up against the Washington Wizards in the third quarter in game one of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
It started to go sideways in the third quarter. The Hawks entered the third with a 10 point lead. Korver made the first shot of the period. And then, the Hawks missed nine shots in a row until DeMarre Carroll scored on a dunk.
- Korver missed layup (11:09)
- Teague missed layup (10:42)
- Horford missed tip in (10:40)
- Horford missed jumper (10:19)
- Korver missed three (9:39)
- Millsap missed three (9:12)
- Carroll missed three (8:39)
- Horford’s shot blocked (7:57)
- Carroll missed three (7:53)
The Wizards went on a 8-0 run, cutting the lead to four until a Demarre Carroll dunk gave the Hawks a six point lead. But, the damage was already done. The Wizards had climbed back into the game, wrestling the momentum and the energy away from the Hawks. The Wizards were playing harder than the Hawks as they adjusted to the Hawks rhythms and stayed home on shooters.
It was a ten point lead again at 74-64 when the Hawks went on another swoon.
- Millsap turnover (5:29)
- Carroll missed free throw (5:08)
- Teague turnover (4:29)
- Antic missed jumpshot (3:39)
- Millsap missed layup (2:34)
- Antic missed three (2:04)
- Schroder missed jumper (1:52)
- Schroder missed three (1:36)
When Korver made a three with 88 seconds left in the quarter, the Hawks had a three point lead. It would be a two point lead at the end of the quarter, a lead the Hawks couldn’t sustain in the 4th because as miserable as they were in the third, (33%, 27% from three), their fourth quarter was even more pathetic.
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The Hawks made 5 shots in the fourth quarter.
- Korver three (6:31)
- Teague layup (6:05)
- Millsap layup (2:36)
- Millsap dunk (1:21)
- Horford hook (0:08)
The challenge of the Washington Wizards is the speed of John Wall and the offensive talent of Bradley Beal. As a backcourt, they were a volume shooting 17-41 but went to the line 12 times. They had 14 rebounds (6 offensive), 14 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks and 3 turnovers. They were tougher than the Hawks on Sunday.
The Hawks backcourt (Teague, Korver) were 9-29, 4-14 from three, two trips to the free throw line, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 0 steals, 1 block and 1 turnover.
The question about the Hawks was what would happen in a game when they couldn’t make shots. Their offense is their identity and in the 4th quarter of the playoffs in which they have been outscored in every single game, their offense is becoming their liability. No one is going to win a game scoring 15 4th quarter points when the margin is small to start with.
For the first time since November, the Hawks have real pressure, the kind that keeps you awake at night. The 60 win season and all of its entitlements are gone in a flash; the Hawks don’t have home court anymore.
Come Tuesday night the Hawks will have a burden they are unfamiliar with in this season when almost all has gone right. Some, even argue, it was too easy. Stress is upon them even as they know the truth about playoff series.
The Hawks won game one on the road last year against the Indiana Pacers and lost the series in seven games. They won the first game on the road in 2011, against the Chicago Bulls, and lost the series in six. The Wizards won the first game on the road last year in Indiana. And lost the next three games. This loss is one loss, even as it was monstrous and very, very ugly.
It doesn’t change the facts about Tuesday with everything that matters up for grabs. The Hawks have 48 hours to fix their offense, to heal Kyle Korver’s 4th quarter shooting, to make decisions about the bench. Because if they don’t recover their identity, history will remember the Hawks as that superstar-missing team that was roundly dismissed by the critics and the critics were right.